What Would (A Broke, Mod) Audrey Wear?
Posted on July 4th, 2009 by trainingheels under Celebrity Shoe Style, GeneralDemure. Coquettish. Words that have never been in my shoe vocabulary. In New York, maximum city that it is, more is more. But of course, there is a limit. I am getting a little tired (gasp!) of all the metallics and all the summer flashiness of neon. I love new shoes that invoke a classic, vintage image, and I think we could all use classic for years in this economy.
I saw a woman yesterday on Grand Central’s 4/5/6 platform wearing a pair of sky high hot pink patent stilettos with gold tipped heels that were straight out of the Playboy Mansion and screamed “LOOK AT ME!” She was also wearing a hot pink top to match.
Picture this…
Except with a gold heel and in combination with a blouse similar to this dress. I <3 you to pieces, Decades, but I wouldn’t wear your dress with hot pink heels, and I don’t think you would either.
Ladies, is this really what we’ve come to to attract attention in a crazy city, neon AND stilettos AND shoulderpads? I like the strong shoulders, but I am not going to do those three things at the same time, for god’s sake.
Shomore quoted Andre Leon Talley being ready for women’s sky high shoes to come down a few notches, and even Patricia Field has been quoted in WWD as being ready for a return to what’s “refined” and to “simplicity.”
Who’s more classic an icon in New York than Audrey Hepburn? I would wear almost every single one of her outfits from her films and most of the ones she wore in her real life too. So I went searching uptown for the kind of shoes (a young, modern discount diva version of) Audrey would wear, and snapped a few window photos in the 50s and 60s that would give me inspiration for cheaper shoes to look for online.
French Sole and London Sole are great places to get a little bit of your Audrey style on in a young-ish, daytime, flat heel style.
Apparently, for some, looking like Audrey from the head down to the toes isn’t enough. This shoe has Audrey hand-painted onto it.
Here’s one of my favorite designers, Signore Ferragamo himself, with a lovely pixie Audrey.
- Tod’s Audrey flats
- High Heel Marathon Comes to NYC
- Prada Spring 2009 RTW Shoes: Shoe Covers and Stilettos
- What I want in a boot
- Ask the ShoeBlogger: Who designed Anne Hathaway’s Shoe
- The Science of High Heels: h=Q x (12 + 3s/8)
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July 4th, 2009 at 11:08 am
Those pink shoes are just too loud. Pretty to look at, sure. But they belong only to Barbie.
July 4th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
I’m sure Audrey would read your blog if she’s real (and alive til this day).
July 5th, 2009 at 5:43 am
Uh oh, I’m the lone Dissenter here so far. While I would not wear the two together, I am a huge fan of hot pink/fuschia, and would wear them seperately, the look is sweeeeet with a sexy black dress, or even a demure one. Plus, I am not in a mood to tone down *stamping foot*. I’ve had to ‘tone down financially’ because of the economy and politics and I like keeping things bright and skyscraper high, I wore skyscraper high shoes before they were popular and I waited YEARS for them to mainstream a bit, at least enough that I no longer was alone in public when I wore them. And I could wear the ones I’d collected in the ten years or so it took for the style to come out more mainstream, so no, I will NOT give them up, they are part of Me! (and I’m 6′0 and wear 5″ and 6″ heels) And while I adore Audrey, I don’t want a demure ladylike appearance at this time. I want the fun, I’m here, jewel toned, brights fashion to continue. And as long as there are some of us out there, it will.
Frankly it’s a great time to be into fashion, you can wear what you want, develop your own style and do what you please regardless of what is in ’style’, or what the magazines say. So perhaps that was just her ’style’ and who knows, maybe she was a misplaced ‘Bunny’ looking for Hef, *smile*.
I’m convinced that the more conservative it is financially, the more outrageous the fashion becomes. Though that is usually true in a conservative political enviornment as well, and we don’t have that at this time, except again, financially. So I’m all for buying vintage, and watching my pennies, and embracing change, however, when it comes to my skyscraper heels and gorgeous hot pink shoes- especially when they are multi colored pink snakeskin (the ones in the pic are a little too/too for me, a bit boring even, and yes, a lot playboy, not exactly what is in my closet, thank goodness, I have many more fun and flirty shoes than that!!) I will continue to hold mine dear to my heart and even dearer when I’m wearing them out for my day, even if they do match my outfit of a brightly colored dress with blues, pinks and whatever else is on it (though I would NOT wear them with a solid pink, so I am agreeing with you on that point, boring!!)! I think it’s to everyone’s advantage who wants to wear the the ladylike look, the flats and the Audrey style, because then, there’s more for them to purchase, since I won’t be in competition for the items! And any sky high heels you don’t feel like wearing, anyone, anywhere, I wear a size 11/41/42 and love shoes. And I’m not too proud to take donations *tongue firmly in cheek*.
M~
July 5th, 2009 at 3:13 pm
If we didn’t have different taste & style, fashion would get boring very quickly!